Re: Re: Re: REB: Cricket Song MTB

You are right, but i have so much on my plate
already with my Tetra median crosses...

still, i have crossed Clown Pants with every
diplo-MTB that was willing, hoping that by crossing the offsprings
with each other, and also back crossing the offsprings with Clown Pants, i will
start to get rebloomers in the second (and even more in the third)
generation!

Thanks Ann, Bill and Loïc.Loïc, maybe crossing with tetraploids
wouldn't be a bad idea anyway. After some e-mail discussions with Harald
Mathes and then seeing your own seedlings from tet X dip, I tried a bunch
more of such crosses in 2009. I have a few seeds that look decent and also
many smaller ones. I haven’t germinated any yet, but it's the most
encouraging seed yield I've gotten yet from mixed ploidy
crosses.

Bill, your questions about CRICKET SONG's pod parent were
attached to the "HYB: Red margins and PBF" thread so I'm wondering if you
thought that these two PBF and RM seedlings were sisters of CRICKET
SONG. Those sister seedlings (sisters of each other) are from a totally
unrelated line of breeding [(KUPARI x Iris suaveolens var. rubromarginata)
X (KUPARI x ROSEMARY'S DREAM)] X Iris purpureobractea.

CRICKET SONG
is derived from Iris cengialtii (clone K23A, I think it was called) X
CLOWN PANTS. I had gotten that species clone from Terry Varner's Ohio
Gardens. I no longer have it, but I think it's currently considered to be
a close relative of Iris pallida. It never rebloomed for me and as far as
I know that particular clone has not been reported to rebloom anywhere
else either. CLOWN PANTS is derived from a cross of two other species I
got from Terry, Iris variegata (Beardsley clone) and Iris mellita (which
is currently considered to be Iris suaveolens var. mellita). The variegata
was reported to rebloom in some regions, but never did so for me. A
little less than half of the years, CLOWN PANTS however does send up extra
stalks a few weeks after the main flush is finished and already maturing
pods. It has never fall rebloomed for me or anyone else that I know of.
Greg McCullough (Iris City Gardens) introduced it for me in 2006 and was
most recently including it as a gift with orders because it wasn't selling
enough to keep up with the increase. So I'm pretty sure he still has
plenty. I still have a small patch myself but it needs to be dug and
replanted to separate it from neighboring irises with which it's mingled.
As for offspring, at the risk of sounding biased, I highly recommend CLOWN
PANTS as a breeder. It's been very fertile both ways and has given me a
wide variety in its offspring. I've only seen one seedling (other than the
Iris cengialtii babies) that has shown any tendency to rebloom –
KUPARI x CLOWN PANTS - but I think that the right choice of parent could
very well produce others. I would suggest trying some other cengialtii clones
and/or pallidas.

Sorry for such a long-winded reply on the "Photos"
ForumBest wishes, Tom